In Leesburg, the stripper, the guns and the podiatrist

So things got a little wacky early Sunday morning in the Lansdowne neighborhood of Leesburg. And when it was all over, an apparently drunk podiatrist was in jail, a stripper and her bodyguard were unharmed, and a neighbor with a gun was the hero.

The Loudoun County sheriff’s office said the episode began in the townhouse of Mehul J. Shah, who lives in the 43700 block of Lees Mill Square. Shah, 39, is a podiatrist who practices in Ashburn at the Dulles Foot and Ankle Institute. But no feet were harmed in the making of this mess.

Instead, Shah reportedly enlisted the services of a Fairfax-based agency called Elite Angels [no web link available], and an Angel, with security guard, was dispatched to Lansdowne. But, apparently “highly intoxicated” according to the sheriff’s office, Shah demanded more than just dancing from the Angel, who demurred. Shah allegedly responded by pulling out his shotgun.

The Angel, a 29-year-old Fairfax woman, fled, followed by Shah, who allegedly fired off one round in the direction of her and her bodyguard. The ruckus, at 12:40 a.m., roused the neighbors, and, this being Virginia, one neighbor promptly appeared with his own weapon. Rather than a duel in the parking lot, the neighbor was able to convince Shah to put his gun down, Investigator Vince Dibenedetto said, and deputies arrived to take him to jail.

And there Shah remains, without bond, on a felony charge of abduction by force and the misdemeanors of reckless handling of a firearm, brandishing a firearm, firing a weapon within a public right of way and firing within 100 yards of a building.

“Sounds like a mixture of alcohol and bad judgment,” Dibenedetto observed.

LINK TO PHOTO:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-state-of-nova/post/in-leesburg-the-stripper-the-guns-and-the-podiatrist/2011/04/05/AFB1jjjC_blog.html